Say Something
by AZNKIM
Summary: What happens when Stefan finally gets free from the safe he's been left to suffer in by Silas? Where does he go? How long has it been? Most important all his thoughts still go straight to Elena... But she chose Damon... Should he keep holding on to her? Or is it finally time to let her go? SongFic.


**I dont know how it will lead to Stefan getting out but this is how I think I would want the conversation between Stefan and Elena to go once he's out . **

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Stefan didn't know who let him out, one minute he was dead than he was floating in the water. He finally made his way to the shore, he needed blood, and he needed it bad. He had no sense of time, how long he had been locked away since Silas put him in the safe and left him to die over and over. Had it been days? Weeks? Months? Years? The only way to figure anything out was to make it back to his house, and hopefully someone there would have some answers about what the hell had happened.

I took him hours to make it home, luckily he found some animals along the way to help him gain a little energy; but only human blood could help his body recover from its current traumatic state. Stefan opened the front door to the Salvatore house and stumbled his way through the entry way.

"_Oh my god! Stefan!"_ Caroline came running to his side, dragging him to the main room. She placed him on the couch and ran to the cellar to grab some bags of blood from the cooler.

"_What the hell happened to you Stefan?! Everyone thought I was crazy when I said you were different and that something was wrong, and now here you are dragging yourself through the front door like this?!"_ Caroline questioned him. While giving him the blood he desperately needed.

"_I've been in the bottom of the lake in the safe I was supposed to put Silas in. How long has it been since that night Caroline?"_ Stefan asked back. He felt panicked. Silas had been parading around as him and no one noticed?! Not Damon, Not Elena, but Caroline? As if his heart could take anymore heart ache.

"_Its been 6 months Stefan... I tried looking for you, but you never told any of us where you were going..."_ Stefan looked up at Caroline and realized she was the only one who cared about him, who noticed enough to look for him.

"_What's he done?"_ He asked, afraid of the answer. Who had he killed, manipulated, to get what he wants? Who else had suffered besides him?

"_I think you need to rest Stefan"_ Caroline told him, clearly trying to hide things from him, to protect him.

Stefan was about to answer when Elena burst through the front door, in a clearly desperate, shocked state. Stefan and Caroline both stared at her, not knowing what to do or say. Caroline turned to look down at Stefan, to try and read his emotions; this wasn't going to be good. She knew this was not the best moment for Elena to be here. No matter how long Stefan had been gone, his heartbreak was fresh, like it was just yesterday for him. She hated to see her friend hurt like this after everything he had been through...

"_Elena. You need to leave." _Caroline told her with as much authority she could muster. Stefan remained stunned and silent. Not moving, seeing nothing but Elena.

"_Stefan..."_ Elena spoke softly, clearly ignoring Caroline like she wasn't even in the room.

Stefan looked at the girl he loved, hearing her say his name like she always did when they were together. He couldn't do this with her. All he saw when he looked at her is how he hallucinated them being together while he died over and over. Thinking, hoping, if anyone was to notice he was gone, it would be her. He couldn't have been more wrong and all he felt was pain looking at her.

"_Get out Elena."_ He demanded, tearing his gaze away from her and to the fire raging in the fireplace in front of him.

Elena had never felt worse than she did right now. She looked at Caroline and saw no willingness to help her with this situation she was in. How could she have not known Silas wasn't Stefan?! Had she really changed so much that she didn't even notice the man she loved was gone? She needed to try and fix this. He had to know that she had never felt guiltier than she did right now in this moment.

Yes she cared about Damon, and had tried to make it work because she felt she owed it to him to give them a shot to see how it could be between them. What they had was so different from what her and Stefan had, the connection between her and Stefan would never go away. As much as she liked her relationship with Damon, she couldn't look past this... Being with Damon changing her so much she never noticed Stefan being gone for 6 months?! She couldn't live with that.

"_I'm so sorry Stefan. Please just tell me what happened? Let me in..."_ Elena tried to reason with him. Moving into the grand living room but leaving some distance between them.

Caroline knew this wasn't a conversation she should be a part of. She looked down at Stefan to see if he wanted this, he nodded at her that he would be alright. She gazed back up at Elena and silently told her she didn't approve of this but that she would leave them be. Elena mouthed "thank you" to her as she walked by to leave the house.

Stefan looked up at Elena, standing just a few steps away from him. There was so much to say but where to start? Where was Damon, why wasn't he here? Were they still together? It was like he wasn't even a part of their lives anymore.

"_You want to know what happened to me Elena? You want to know every detail of what happened to me and how you were here and didn't even noticed "I" had changed or that I was gone?!"_ Stefan said, clearly angry with her. Elena cringed at his harshness. Stefan was rarely harsh with her, but she deserved it, she deserved way worse.

"_I want to know Stefan. Please..."_ Elena pleaded back to him. Staring at him, hoping he could see how awful she felt.

"_The night I left, when I went to put Silas in the safe and push him into the water, he somehow came back to life and showed me his real face. He was a doppelganger of me... Then he locked me into the safe and pushed me over the cliff into the water. Leaving me to regenerate and die, over and over again... "_ Stefan told her, putting his hands in his hands. When would his life start to turn around for the good?

"_I can't..."_ Elena started to say, when Stefan cut her off instantly. His stare piercing into her eyes, her soul. Elena felt like the world stopped, time stopped. The only thing that mattered was her and Stefan. At the end of everything, it was always her and Stefan... How had she lost sight of that?

"_There's more Elena... When I was down there, underwater... All I could think about was you. Us. About how much I loved you, and how you told me we would be together forever. Everything I hallucinated while I died over and over, in pain was us being together. Old memories, fake memories of our future... You told me to hold on to the fact that you loved me, to never let that go. And while I was down there, trapped, that was the only thing I thought about..."_ He spilled out his pain to her. He didn't owe her anything, but he needed to be honest with her so he could be honest with himself.

Elena couldn't move. She couldn't even speak. Stefan was looking at her, waiting for her to say something, anything and she couldn't find any words. She knew if she didn't make some sort of move then it would be the end of them completely; and for the first time in a long time, she knew she didn't want that.

_Say something, I'm giving up on you.  
I'll be the one, if you want me to.  
Anywhere, I would've followed you.  
Say something, I'm giving up on you._

Being with Damon wasn't like being with Stefan... She could live without Damon. She could go on and find a way to live life. But without Stefan, there was no world she wanted to be in, if he wasn't there with her. It took her 6 months, 13 hours, 24 minutes, and 8 seconds to find the girl she thought she lost so long ago on Wickery Bridge. To find herself since first becoming a vampire and having everything torn away from her to realize it was because of Stefan; the man who had always gone through hell over and over for her.

_And I am feeling so small.  
It was over my head  
I know nothing at all._

She always thought she knew what Stefan felt like to live with all the guilt he felt, but not till this moment did she really experience the pain... Because she felt it more right now than she ever had in her life.

_And I will stumble and fall.  
I'm still learning to love  
Just starting to crawl._

Stefan finally stood up from the couch, unable to just sit there and watch Elena say nothing to him after everything. His body felt recovered and back to normal. He walked away from her and to the fireplace. How come, whenever it seemed like their relationship was at a tipping point, they ended up in this room? And he was always the one torn to pieces? This needed to end... And he had to be the one to do it. He loved Elena, he would always love her, but he needed to let her go.

_And I will swallow my pride.  
You're the one that I love  
And I'm saying goodbye._

"_Stefan. I'm so sorry I put you through all of this. I'm sorry I wasn't the one to save you, even though I wish with everything I am, that I was the one, and that it took me this long to realize everything I should have known all along. I don't deserve anything from you Stefan, but you need to know that I can't live without you, I won't live without you. I know I picked Damon, I know I told him I loved him, but never, never like I love you."_ Elena began to sob.

"_I know that doesn't justify anything, or make it better, but you need to know why I did it. I never stopped loving you Stefan, not for one second. But Damon deserved a chance for us to make it work. It took everything in me that night to ask you to not to leave, but I didn't have the right to ask that of you. You are the best choice I ever made Stefan. Nothing's changed that."_

_Say something, I'm giving up on you.  
And I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you.  
And anywhere, I would have followed you._

Stefan couldn't believe this was happening. He wanted nothing more that to believe her and forgive everything that's happened, but it didn't make sense to him. She had the chance to finally choose, and she chose Damon, not him.

"_We can't just pick up where we left off Elena. You made a choice remember? It was Damon. After everything that's happened between us, you chose him. You were right when you told me that girl that I loved was gone. I'm finally realizing that..."_ He told her. Elena looked like the same girl he loved, and he really wanted to believe that she had finally found herself, but he just couldn't take that chance again.

"_I know we can't... I know nothing I ever say or do will fix this and I don't blame you for not believing me. I messed this up. And the last thing I want for you is to keep hurting Stefan. You don't deserve that. So if you want me to go, then tell me and I'll go. But you need to know that I love you Stefan, and no matter what you choose, that won't change my feelings for you."_ Elena poured her heart out to him, and it finally felt like the weight she had been living with had finally disappeared.

"_I need time Elena. For me it's still the night you chose my brother. The night I lost everything I loved..."_ He told her, moving across the room, towards her.

He pulled her small frame into a tight embrace, and stroked her hair to calm her down. It felt so natural for him to be like this with her. He couldn't help his actions towards her after all this time. It was Elena, and no matter what he told himself, what he told Lexi was true. She was the love of his life, and he would go back to her... Just not now, not this moment. They had nothing but time, they had forever.

"_You should love the person, who makes you glad that you're alive."_

"_I just can't seem to shake her."_

"_I can't lose the way I feel about you."_

"_I will always love you"_

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**_Not one of my best fanfics but still wanted to post. Hope you guys enjoyed it! As always please R&R! Also, check out my other stories. GO STELENA =)_**


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